The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus which is used in an industrial field and which is inserted into an inspection object space such as a pipe to observe the inside of the inspection object space, and the like.
As a general endoscope apparatus, a constitution described, for example, in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 7-181400 is known. In this publication, an operation portion on a hand side is connected to a base end of an elongated insertion portion inserted into the inspection object space. Furthermore, an observation optical system including an image pickup device for observation, an illuminating window for irradiation with an illuminative light, and the like are disposed in a tip end of the insertion portion.
Moreover, the operation portion is connected to one end of a universal cable. This universal cable includes a light guide for transmitting the illuminative light, a signal line for transmitting a signal output from the image pickup device, and the like. The other end of the universal cable is connected to a connector portion.
The connector portion is detachably connected to an external apparatus including a light source apparatus or a camera control unit (CCU). An elastically supported socket is disposed in the light source apparatus. The connector portion of the universal cable is inserted and connected into the socket, and in this state a connected portion of the connector portion and the socket is elastically supported.
Furthermore, a fixed unit which is usable in common in a plurality of types of endoscope apparatuses is disposed. Some of members of an external peripheral apparatus are mounted on the fixed unit. A system is proposed in which the fixed unit is combined and used with a plurality of types of scope units of the endoscope apparatus.
In this system, when the fixed unit is connected to the plurality of scope units, and when the position of the connector portion is not aligned with that of the socket disposed opposite to the portion, the units cannot be connected to one another in some cases. When the position of the connector portion does not agree with that of the socket because of fluctuation by assembly during manufacturing, there is a problem that the scope unit cannot be attached/detached with respect to the fixed unit.
Furthermore, when the scope units cannot securely be positioned with respect to the fixed unit, loss of an illuminative light amount, or contact defect of an electric contact is caused, and original capabilities possessed by machines cannot be fulfilled in some case. Moreover, looseness or breakage is sometimes caused in a connected portion by vibration or impact. Therefore, since assembly accuracy has to be enhanced, a lot of trouble is taken, workability is bad, and further manufacturing cost is raised/influenced.